Ed. note: I've changed the headline on this post. Although it sounds like a good bet the kids in question were BLS students - they got off the same train that BLS students take - as people have noted in the comments, there is a chance they could go to some other school.
So many Boston Latin School students who live in Roslindale and West Roxbury board the 3 p.m. Needham train at Ruggles that the train's conductor sets aside two cars just for them.
This afternoon, an Asian-American BLS student who lives in West Roxbury got off the train, as she does most days, at the Lagrange Street stop. She reports what happened as she walked down Dent Street:
I had to walk home from the train today listening to little white boys chant "We hate the chinks. We hate the n******. White supremacy." Tell me again how BLS doesn't have a race problem.
She says it was four guys. They all seemed young, so probably "sixies" - seventh-grade students - or maybe eighth graders, she estimates.
Before they started with the epithets, they decided to announce, "This whole street is white,' she says. "So I assumed it may have been partially directed at me." She adds she doesn't know what set them off; she wasn't paying any attention to them until she heard their chants.
She adds this is the first time she's run into something like this at the train stop.
In January, BLS became the subject of national attention - and a Justice Department probe - when black students used social media to complain about their treatment at the school.
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Comments
Thanks
By adamg
Thu, 05/05/2016 - 11:36pm
I appreciate this. And I appreciate that by going with a story with no name attached to it lessens the potential impact, but I gave my word to the student I wouldn't use her name (I hope you can understand why she wouldn't want her name out there). At the same time, I think it is still a story - it wasn't just somebody overhearing some whispers among 12- or 13-year-olds; it was chanting. Disturbing chanting - 12- and 13-year-olds can do and say some pretty stupid things, but this goes beyond mere stupid, especially given everything that's gone on at BLS over the past few months. They were out in the open, on the street. That's why, when my daughter showed me the student's post this afternoon, after going something like "What? Jesus!" I thought this was worth writing about, even if, yes, it's missing the student's name.
Are middle schoolers engaging
By Refugee
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 1:15am
Are middle schoolers engaging in name calling really worth writing about in the media? Sounds like an issue for the parents, teachers, and school administrators to deal with.
It's sort of a catch 22, because if this sort of incident happens rarely, then by definition it's news but at the same time is an outlier and not a symptom of an entrenched problem. If it happens often, then it can represent a widespread problem, but is not "news".
I'm not as alarmed about this as you
By anon
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 6:16am
My guess is that it's just kids being stupid. Needs to be fixed, but it's not surprising.
What is alarming is all of the stereotypical loudmouthed dimwitted townies voting all over this post, about how they think this didn't happen, etc.
fwiw
By 500Monkeys
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 8:48am
Totally fine to protect the child's privacy in my book, and maybe you/she know more than you've said here. But look how different this is:
"... especially given everything that's gone on at basketball games involving West Roxbury high school students over the past few months."
Either way entire communities of innocents get thrown under the, er, bus.
CM Kids
By WestieRoots
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 9:41am
THE VAST MAJORITY OF STUDENTS AT CATHOLIC MEMORIAL ARE NOT FROM WEST ROXBURY. Stop characterizing problems with an all-boys Catholic school as problems with the town it happens to sit in.
Wait, is this true?
By anon
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 2:43pm
Where do they come from then?
All over the place
By Waquiot
Sat, 05/07/2016 - 12:27am
I am hoping you were being sarcastic.
If not, know this. There are MBTA buses that bring CM kids from Dorchester to the school. I know this because I accidentally got on one once. When they had a good hockey team, players commuted in from the Fall River area. Of course, the average student tends to come from the closer suburbs, but still, I think it is safe to say more West Roxbury kids go to Latin than attend CM.
As one who lives in the neighborhood in question...
By ManyXBoston
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 12:15am
..I'm very glad this is out. The parents in the neighborhood need to know about this and make it very clear to their kids that racist and bullying behavior and words are completely not tolerated.
Also, the various religious leaders at the local places of worship should know and deliver a "hell, fire and brimstone" sermon about racism and bullying.
Can we at least remove the BLS reference in the title?
By merlinmurph
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 8:47am
Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
The title of the post outright accuses BLS of still having racial issues, yet, we really don't know if the kids throwing the insults were even BLS kids. She didn't recognize any of them.
The right thing to do would be to remove the BLS reference until we have a credible link to BLS.
Yes, why the rush to name the school?
By Gazelle
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 9:57am
And to be clear, why does anyone put all this on one school versus the parents? Schools are now expected to be accountable not only for what kids post online in their free time but also what they say on their way home? At what point does parental responsibility kick in?
The reporting student goes to BLS
By adamg
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 10:25am
Which, you may have read, has had some racial issues of late. And both she and the kids in question got off what students know as the BLS "Westie train." That having been said, as I just posted, I did change the headline.
Done
By adamg
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 10:08am
I thought about it and you're right. Although I think it's a good bet these kids were from BLS, without more proof, it's too early and wrong to blame it on BLS students. It doesn't make the overall incident any less reprehensible, though.
Well played, I guess
By 500Monkeys
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 10:24am
New header puts the blame squarely on the perps, at least.
The root of it
By AJ
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 9:58am
This sounds like a West Roxbury problem, not a BLS problem.
Has this been proven to have actually occurred?
By anon
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 2:44pm
Or is it hearsay, this young women's unverified claim?
It is irresponsible to disseminate such provocative hearsay. She should be able to actually verify this incident,as she interprets it or even if it really happened, did actually occur. I'm amazed she didn't whip out her phone and video or photograph the alleged incident. Maybe there's surveillance video available in the area and she can single out the perps and cops can wait for them to show up again.
Like I said earlier
By adamg
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 2:50pm
I realize people are going to doubt the story, but I'm not going to provide additional details that could lead to her identification, because a) I gave her my word and b) Based on some of the comments I haven't posted, she'd become a target for more harassment. I admit I didn't ask her if she videoed the l'il darlings.
With due respect,
By anon
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 3:59pm
that's a weak response.
Otherwise I like your blog.
People will doubt
By Rick C
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 6:36pm
Hurling the term racist at people (even anonymous ones) requires more than seeing it on a facebook posting. something that is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
So what if it didn't?
By Kaz
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 7:47pm
Nobody's being perp-walked here. Just as the victim isn't named or providing any evidence it occurred, the racists are remaining nameless and going to continue living a life where they abuse people different from them walking down the street.
So what's the difference to you whether this actually happened or is the fantasy fo a girl on Facebook who sought only the attention of her friends but has fibbed to Adam a story so as not to be exposed as a liar?
You don't give a shit about whether there was an unidentifiable gang of kids walking down the street mocking people or not. There's nothing you could do about it if you did give a shit.
Then again, if you have a kid who might do something like this, then maybe you'd council them on how to behave so they never hurt anyone like this or end up the subject of a similar news story. But shouldn't you be teaching them better anyways?
So, if it's the truth or if it's faked, the only difference to you is whether you got "had" by the lie. For that, you're just going to have to trust Adam and this girl. Or don't. But whining that you've been forced to make that judgement call? Get over yourself.
You don't know me
By anon
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 8:40pm
and you certainly don't know what I 'give a shit' about. I'd suggest you're projecting more than anything else.
As for what does it matter if it's fake or not? Are you kidding me? It matters a great deal.
I don't need to
By Kaz
Sun, 05/08/2016 - 10:37am
I covered that above.
You either don't give a shit about the fact that this didn't happen OR you do but can't do anything about the fact that you give a shit that this didn't happen.
In other words, it doesn't matter if you give a shit or not except to allow you to come here and rage impotently at your inability to know if you've been lied to or not. That's on you. If that matters "a great deal", prove it. Saying it matters to something greater than yourself is something you should be able to justify.
Here we go again....
By Meep
Wed, 05/11/2016 - 4:52pm
Comments filled with racist white privilege thinking! Oh there is no such thing as white racists anymore! Even when the writer of this blog verifies that there is such a thing going on still right here and now, you get these white privilege thinking morons trying to convince US that white racists are a thing of the past! Bullshit! These disgusting elements of society just don't know how to co exist with others and want to take us back to a ugly place and time where they walked around high and mighty and stinking of false privilege and power. Well, we are NOT going back to those times and that era! We will continue to call out the stench of your disgusting filthy racist souls! We will call attention to it whenever we see it. Written or otherwise! A lot of you are on this site and in the comments spewing your subtle racist thoughts! Thinking you can veil it. We see you! We can smell your rotting flesh and you stink! We don't like you nor do we want you in our diverse neighborhoods! West Roxbury, Roslindale, Dedham, Hyde Park, Roxbury,and Jamaica Plain ARE diverse neighborhoods whether you like it or not! The CITY OF BOSTON and it's towns within are a diverse area. Don't like it?
MOVE!
GET OUT!
JUST GO!
Stop making everyone else's life miserable and get a hold on those disgusting junior racists that you are raising!
You are
By Waquiot
Wed, 05/11/2016 - 7:34pm
SO CUTE!
And I'm willing to bet you've never spent a lot of time in West Roxbury.
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